Obama Presses for Higher Minimum Wage
By: Charlie De Mar
Updated: February 13, 2013
President Obama's State of the Union Address pressed congress to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $9.00.
"A family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below poverty. That's wrong. Let's declare that this is the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty," said President Obama in his State of the Union Address.
President Obama's proposal calls for the hourly minimum wage to increase gradually, reaching $9.00 by 2015. The bump would be the highest increase of its kind in more than three decades.
If the wage spike happens, hiring new employees for business owners like Mark Melchi becomes a challenge.
"There may be some staff changes to cover it whether we can make do with three and half people instead of four," said Melchi.
Melchi says his current employees would expect a pay day if the minimum wage were to increase.
"Anybody that's making $9 an hour is going to expect the same proportional raise that the individuals making minimum wage makes," said Melchi.
If the minimum wage is increased, Melchai says his operating costs would also increase, forcing him to pass that along to the customer.
"Obviously we don't want our service to suffer or the quality of our product to suffer but something's got to give," said Melchi.
